Help To Appropriate This Blessing

In the book of Acts, we often read about the laying on of hands and prayer. Even Paul--whose conversion was through the direct intervention of God--had to receive the power of the Spirit through the laying on of hands and prayer (Acts 9.17).

This implies that there must be a power of the Spirit among ministers that makes them a channel of faith and courage to others. The weak often require help to receive the blessing for themselves. But those who already have this blessing, along with those who desire to have it, must always understand and acknowledge their absolute dependence on the Lord and expect all from Him alone.

The gift of the Spirit is imparted by God alone, and every fresh outpouring of the Spirit comes from above. Consequently, it is essential that there be frequent personal encounters with God. The ministers God uses to communicate this blessing, as well as those who receive it, must regularly meet with God in an intimate relationship. Remember that every good gift comes from above. Faith in this truth gives us the courage to expect with full confidence and gladness that the full Pentecostal blessing may be searched for and that a life fully under the leading of the Holy Spirit is within our reach.

The proclamation and appropriation of this blessing will restore the Christian community to the primary Pentecostal power.

On the day of Pentecost, speaking with "other tongues" and prophesying was the result of being filled with the Spirit. Now here at Ephesus, twenty years later, that same miracle is again witnessed as a visible token and pledge of the other gifts of the Spirit. We may may depend on this, that where the reception of the Holy Spirit and the possibility of being filled filled with Him are proclaimed and appropriated, the life of the Pentecostal community will be restored in all its fresh power!

An increasing acknowledgement the Church's lack of power exists today. In spite of the widespread preaching of the gospel of grace, the full power of salvation has been lost. As result, the Church exists today with little conflict between worldliness and unbelief.

This complaint is justified. If it was expressed strongly enough, maybe God's children would cast themselves on the great truths of the Word of God! When faith in the full Pentecostal blessing is once again found in the Church, the members will find their strength and be able to fulfill God's will for their lives.